"Code Blue Alert Issued For Baltimore City" (ABC 2, January 6, 2015)

Tuesday's snow was just part of the winter weather the area is in store for the first full week of the new year.
 
Temperatures are expected to take a dramatic drop prompting city officials to declare a Code Blue Alert. It begins Wednesday. 
 
"I'm hoping that everyone is already practicing safety around the weather today (Tuesday) in terms of staying indoors and able to get this message but also make preparations for the anticipated cold weather that we expect on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week," Dr. Jacquelyn Duval-Harvey, Interim Health Commissioner for the Baltimore City Health Department, said. 
 
The Health Commissioner can declare a Code Blue when temperatures, including the wind chill, are expected to be 13 degrees or below or when other conditions, like strong winds or extended periods of cold, are determined severe enough. 
 
"We want to make sure that everyone is safe and that we do not run the risk of individuals being exposed to hypothermia and potentially the worst case scenario people not being protected which essentially can lead to death as well," Duval-Harvey added. 
 
Part of preventing that includes providing services and shelter for the homeless. Private shelters across the city are encouraged to extend their hours and keep people inside. Dr. Duval-Harvey says it's also a time to be a good neighbor. 
 
"We want to make sure that individuals, such as individuals who may have no heat in their homes, people who may have pets that stay outside, young children and the elderly, that you look out for those individuals and make sure that they have heat and they are safe," she said. 

Related Stories

Lead poisoning cases fell 19 percent in Baltimore last year, even as more children tested for exposure (Baltimore Sun)

The number of Baltimore children with lead poisoning fell 19 percent in 2017, even as more children were tested for exposure to the powerful neurotoxin.

Statewide, the number of Maryland children found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood held steady even as the number of children tested increased by 10 percent, according to a Maryland Department of the Environment report released Tuesday.

Read the entire story.

Azar Unveils Plan to Help Pregnant Patients Quit Opioids (MedPage Today)

States will get help from the federal government integrating services for pregnant and postpartum Medicaid patients with opioid use disorder under a pilot program announced Tuesday by Health and Hu

Trump declared an emergency over opioids. A new report finds it led to very little. (Vox)

To much fanfare last year, President Donald Trump ordered his administration to declare a public health emergency over the opioid epidemic. “As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue,” Trump said at the time. “It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction.”

When I’ve asked experts about these approaches, it’s not that any of them are bad. It’s that they fall short. For instance, Leana Wen, the former health commissioner of Baltimore (and soon-to-be president of Planned Parenthood), said that the Support for Patients and Communities Act “is simply tinkering around the edges.”

Read the entire story.